


you're a layer on my clothes

by antiquitea



Series: Into the Fire [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M, Mentor/Protégé, Near Future, Original Character(s), Psychic Abilities, Telekinesis, pyrokinesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antiquitea/pseuds/antiquitea
Summary: Noah was falling hard, and fast, and Alex hadn’t exactly made it a secret that he was too. Alex’s problem was that he didn’t feel equipped to deal with those emotions, Noah’s problem was that he felt it so intensely that he wasn’t sure how long he could keep inside.Which was why he had done what he had done hours previous.





	you're a layer on my clothes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flyicarus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyicarus/gifts).



> Based on characters created by myself and [flyicarus](http://archiveofourown.org/users/flyicarus). Noah Abbott looks like Chis Evans, Alex Hale looks like Sebastian Stan. Universe in which the story takes place in is similar to the one in [Push (2009)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465580).

They’d gotten a little bit more comfortable, had become used to not glancing over their shoulders. While not entirely out of the woods yet (it was unspoken that they might not ever be), Alex Hale and Noah Abbott had put enough distance between them and Division to warrant moving around with a little bit more ease. Nothing would ever compare to the cabin in the north, where’d they had spent Christmas, and time trying to get Alex more comfortable in his abilities, in his own skin. But they’d take it.

A safe house that Noah kept in Portland was where they found themselves, and though Alex had at first been nervous at the prospect of being around so many people, not trusting himself or his fire in such plain sight, Noah had faith. It wasn’t misplaced, and Alex hadn’t flared up since they had arrived. Noah didn’t need to tell Alex how proud of him that he was, Alex could see it in his eyes.

Noah had asked Alex if he would be comfortable on his own for a few hours, and Alex’s first reaction was to get incredulous. He wasn’t an infant, he could look after himself, but after the flash of anger passed over his eyes (which Noah noticed) he inhaled deeply and insisted that he would be fine (which Noah appreciated). Alex, along with learning to control his fire, was still learning to control his emotions as well. He’d been on his own for too long, and everything was still so new to him. He was getting better in so many ways, and he had Noah to thank for that.

So, Noah had left, without a whole lot of detail on what he was doing or where he was going, which left Alex feeling a little uneasy. Noah spoke of meeting up with an old contact and getting in touch with Julian, but was otherwise vague. Alex was sure that Noah had his reasons, but they were still on the run from Division, and if they were spotted it wouldn’t be long before they would need to be back on the road again.

Alex was sitting on the floor in the living room, slowly smoldering and controlling tiny flames on his fingertips when Noah returned home, and the skies of the Pacific Northwest had clearly opened, because he was soaked to the bone.

“Did you miss me?” Noah asked, unable to keep from smiling as Alex all but launched himself into his arms, planting a quick kiss on his lips. “Oh. You’re so warm.”

“And you’re so wet and cold! Oh my god, get off of me!” Alex laughed as Noah wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

“C’mon, Alex. Warm me up!” Noah said, chuckling as Alex wriggled his way out of his grip.

“I will, I will,” Alex insisted, waving his hands a little. “But not in those soaking wet clothes.”

Alex reached for Noah’s hand, and Noah couldn’t have bitten back the smile that overtook his face if he had tried. He let himself be dragged to the washroom just off of the entryway as a thought passed through his mind. He would follow Alex anywhere that the other man led him to.

Gently, Alex placed his hands on Noah’s shoulders, and pushed him down to sit at the edge of the tub. He turned to flick the light switch on, and the hum of the bulb filled the small bathroom as Noah shrugged his coat off.

“Have you ever been here before?” Noah asked, watching as Alex took his drenched coat and set it over the radiator. “Portland, I meant.”

Alex shook his head as he rearranged the coat to get it all spread out for maximum drying. “No. Division kept me mostly in the South, as I’m sure you’re aware. Why?”

Noah shrugged. “No reason. I thought that maybe you and your parents might have come here. You know, before …” There was no need to finish the sentence, and Noah frowned, but Alex offered him a gentle smile.

“They didn’t. But I’m glad that you brought me here,” Alex said, helping Noah in taking his shirt off. Noah was completely capable, of course, but they both knew that Alex couldn’t pass up an opportunity to help Noah get undressed. “I like it here. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a city like this. It’s a bit frightening to be around so many people, but at the same time I feel safer than I have in a long time.”

“Strength in numbers,” Noah said as Alex moved away from him to set his shirt on the radiator as well. “There are a lot of our kind here. We’ll meet up with them in the coming days. And it’s easy to get lost in a crowd here. Division is looking for us, sure. But it’s more difficult to find us than it is in wide open spaces.”

Alex huffed out a quiet laugh, a bashful smile across his face as he opened a cupboard to grab a towel. “I meant more because I’m here with you.”

It was Noah’s turn to smile bashfully.

Neither of them said anything, simply let the moment hang in the air. Noah was falling hard, and fast, and Alex hadn’t exactly made it a secret that he was too. Alex’s problem was that he didn’t feel equipped to deal with those emotions, Noah’s problem was that he felt it so intensely that he wasn’t sure how long he could keep inside.

Which was why he had done what he had done hours previous.

Alex held onto the towel for a moment, and Noah watched, rapt, as flames from Alex’s fingers licked at the fabric. It took Noah a moment to realize that Alex was warming the towel up for him, and when he finally handed it to Noah their fingers brushed along one another, and Noah wanted more than anything to grab Alex’s hand and haul him onto his lap. His jeans were soaked, so he thought better of it.

“You should probably get those off too,” Alex said, as if reading Noah’s mind and pointing to his lower half.

Noah ran the towel over his hair and face, and then over the damp skin on his arms, his cheeks suddenly flushed from more than the damp and the cold. “My … oh?” he stammered, suddenly feeling extremely ineloquent.

“Well, yeah. They’re soaked,” Alex said. “I said I’d warm you up. I’d just rather not do it with all of these drenched clothes on you.”

Nodding, suddenly feeling too dumb to speak, Noah set the towel down on the edge of the bathtub and slowly got up, his hands settling on his belt. Alex licked at his lips before biting at them, which Noah thought was terribly cruel considering how much seeing Alex bite at those full, red lips of his sent Noah into a frenzy. Alex took a step back to give Noah some space, and Noah turned a little so that he could kick his jeans directly into the tub. It was then that he heard Alex gasp.

“What happened?”

Confused, Noah’s eyebrows knitted together as he began to turn his head, only to have Alex touching at the space between his shoulder blades with a tenderness that Noah didn’t think he’d experienced yet with the young pyrokinetic. He could also see the lighting in the room change, from Alex’s fire, which engulfed him and was close to being an inferno. Alex gently touched the bandage, and Noah inhaled sharply.

“Tell me,” Alex rumbled, his voice low. “Tell me who hurt you tonight. I’ll -”

“Alex,” Noah said calmly. “It’s not like that. It’s not an injury.”

It was Alex’s turn to look confused, and his fingers, so incredibly warm and tactile, traced the edges of the bandage. “Then … what happened?”

Noah felt a little foolish, and was thankful that Alex couldn’t see his face. He hadn’t anticipated showing Alex this so soon, and he suddenly felt a nagging sense of shame in the pit of his stomach. But there was no turning back now. “Pull the bandage off,” he whispered. “Just be careful. It’s tender.”

Furrowing his brow, Alex’s fingers stilled for a moment. Noah thought that he might pull away entirely, but instead his fingers gently picked at the tape at the edge of the bandage and he slowly began to pull it off. Once what was underneath it was revealed, Noah heard Alex murmur a soft, “Oh,” though it almost sounded like an intake of breath more than anything else.

Underneath the bandage was a small tattoo, a flame done in black ink, the edges a deep red, done in the same tribal style that the bull on Noah’s bicep was. His tattoo for William. Which meant that -

“Noah,” Alex breathed as he regarded the tattoo, his fingers tracing the skin around it, not touching the ink. “Is this - did you get this _for me_?”

Swallowing thickly, Noah turned slowly so that he could meet Alex’s gaze, look him in the eyes as he spoke to him. “Yes,” he replied simply, drinking in the look of wonder on Alex’s face. “I got a tattoo for you.” He paused, trying to collect his thoughts, his feelings. They weren’t a secret, but neither of them were particularly skilled in expressing themselves plainly. “I know that we haven’t known one another for that long, but I can’t deny how important that you are to me. Not just now because you’re here with me, but forever. You’ve … left a mark on me, Alex. Something like a burn, scorched into my heart. But it doesn’t hurt. It’s like when you touch me with your flame.” Noah reached up, his fingers brushing Alex’s hair away from his stunned looking face. “It doesn’t hurt. It feels comforting. It feels like home.

“And I don’t know - I don’t know what will happen when all of this is said and done. When all of this is over. But I wanted to carry you with me always.”

For a moment, Alex said nothing, and Noah was terrified that it was too much. He knew that he felt things so incredibly deeply, but he couldn’t hold that back anymore. Alex knew how important he was to Noah, he’d told him as much. And Noah knew that Alex felt similarly. But Alex wasn’t running out and getting tattoos in Noah’s honour. Noah felt incredibly foolish in that moment, but when he attempted to shy away Alex grabbed his arm.

“You don’t have to hide,” Alex whispered. “Not from me.”

He inhaled and looked into Noah’s eyes, his mouth opening and closing with everything that he wanted to say and then couldn’t put into words adequate enough for the moment.

Eventually, he simply settled on Noah’s name, before crushing their mouths together in a bruising kiss that blazed stronger and hotter than any fire that Noah had ever felt.

**Author's Note:**

> I am currently offering writing commissions, and Jackie was one of my first customers! She requested something based on these characters that we created a few years ago, and I was of course more than happy to write it.
> 
> If you're at all interested, my commissions are still open. I will write just about anything, whether it be fandom related or based on your own original characters. You can find more information [here](http://antiquitea.tumblr.com/post/176086931131/hello-friends-ive-mentioned-it-here-previously).


End file.
